Nissan Confirms IDx Compact Sports Car Is Headed For Production

The Sport Coupe Concept was Nissan's big reveal at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, but the Japanese automaker's show space had two other cars on the main stage: the IDx Freeflow and IDx NISMO. Both cars appeared at the Tokyo Motor Show in November, and their stateside appearance isn't just to give Americans a firsthand look at compact sports car that pays homage to the Datsun 510. According to Andy Palmer, Nissan's executive vice president and chief planning officer, the IDX is headed for production.

"We've written it into our strategic midterm plan, which is a five-year rolling plan," he says. "That doesn't mean it's done yet. It still has to make the cut on all the financials and all the rest of it, but it's in the plan." So while there's no guarantee the IDX will a showroom reality, the signs are good. "We have a pretty robust process for development of cars," Palmer says. "To get into the plan is already a fairly momentous step."

Palmer explained that there are three major steps towards production: project concept, profile, and then final contract. The IDx is in the project concept phase, which involves looking how the car would be built, who the target customer is, and general cost and volume estimates. This step "pretty much defines [that] you're going to get something that looks like what you see on the stand," he says. "What it doesn't necessarily mean is that the economics work."

The second step, profile, is when the carmaker must nail down the details of parts sourcing and costs. Final contract, the last step, is the final decision where the company CEO (Carlos Ghosn, at present) signs off on the project. At that point a car is two years from the start of production and there's no turning back. "Once you go through contract, it's done, the money's basically spent," Palmer says. "Basically it goes or doesn't go as the business case works or it doesn't work."

That makes it sound like the IDx could get the axe at any moment, but Palmer is confident the car has a good chance of making it through the process. "I don't waste millions of dollars of the company's money with something which has no hope, so obviously I have a fairly good feel that it's worth exploring."

Now then, what does that mean about pricing or performance? Nissan, and Palmer, aren't giving many specifics. But IDx will be a unique platform, and the low volume potential dictates some kind of special manufacturing, similar to the way Lotus and Aston Martin build cars. "The volumes aren't large enough to support a normal pressed [metal] platform," Palmer says. Even in small production numbers we're happy that the IDx has a chance at becoming as weirdly beloved as the old 510.

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